If the Shoe Fits
by millie-mione
Summary: What if Harry and Dudley had a change of fortunes? Characters are J.K. Rowling's and Jill Murphy's.
1. Default Chapter

Lily and James Potter stared at their son as he wiped his tiny little fist across his tiny little  
  
button nose. Their lives were as perfect as could be. They had a wonderful loving marriage, they  
  
were well-to-do, and now they had a baby to share it all with.  
  
" He looks just like you, James," Lily said staring through the glass.  
  
"But he's got your eyes. Let's just hope he's got your good sense too,"James said.  
.  
Petunia and Vernon came with Lily's parents. Lily's mother held Dudley up to the nursery win-  
  
dow and said, "Dudley, meet your cousin Harry."  
  
"How are you , dear?" Mrs. Evans asked.  
  
"Hello ,all," Mr. Evans said.  
  
"Hello, Lily and James," Petunia said eyeing her precious little boy all the while.  
  
" Hi, Petunia," Lily said coming to hug her sister." I'm glad you decided to come. It feels  
  
good to see you after all of this time."  
  
"Hello, James and congratulations," Vernon said.  
  
"Mum, he doesn't like to be held like that," Petunia complained.  
  
" Oh, rubbish. My little 'Dudders' is a strong little gent, and he knows when he feels  
  
uncomfortable, and when he doesn't, don't you Diddy?" she cooed now tickling his chubby little  
  
chin playfully as he laughed.  
  
" May I hold him, Petunia?" Lily asked.  
  
After looking at Vernon she said, "yes, I guess it's okay."  
  
"What do you mean, you guess it's okay?" Mrs. Evans asked belligerently looking from  
  
Petunia to Vernon who cowered as he met her firy gaze.  
  
" P-Petunia's very protective of him,you know being a new mother and all," Vernon said  
  
shyly.  
  
" And why, might I ask, does he need protection from his own family?" Mrs. Evans  
  
asked threateningly.  
  
" Oh.... it's just that Petunia loves him so. She never lets him out of her sight," Vernon  
  
answered tremulously.  
  
"Well, that's just ridiculous. What do you two plan to do, follow him around everywhere  
  
he goes?" she asked sarcastically.  
  
" Uh-no," he said, looking and feeling embarassed.  
  
"Well then," she said.  
  
Dudley grabbed Lily's hair playfully and gave it a tug. She mouthed the word 'ouch', and he  
  
touched her mouth trying to see what was happening . He seemed to take to Lily at the first  
  
encounter. In fact, when Petunia thought that the moment was right to get her son back, she  
  
reached for him, but he started to cry when he saw that he was leaving Lily.  
  
" Oh, look. They've already bonded,"Mr. Evans said.  
  
The family shared a lovely visit until Peter Pettigrew walked in, greeted eveyrbody, and  
  
asked to speak to the Potters in private about a brief 'professional' matter. Petunia pretended to  
  
go to the bathroom all the while listening through the wall to what James, Lily, and this Peter  
  
person were saying.  
  
" Sirius came to tell me that you wanted to make me your secret keeper," peter said.  
  
" Yes, but listen, Peter, right now is a very bad time to bring this up with Lily's parents  
  
being here and all." James said.  
  
" Don't worry, James, I can do the spell right here. I've brought my wand with me, and  
  
this ward is a private one,"Lily said informatively.  
  
" Okay," James said.  
  
Petunia listened to the rest of the conversation and put together the idea that her sister  
  
and her family were in some sort of danger from someone who was looking for them. She found  
  
the idea ludicrous that Lily would actually confide in someone during such a crisis, especially  
  
someone who looked shifty like that Peter Pettigrew. She kept quiet about all she heard and  
  
emerged from the bathroom primping her hair.  
  
A week passed since that day. Petunia looked at the charmed bracelet that her sister gave  
  
her to use as a portkey. She'd had the worst feeling about that 'Peter', she didn't know what  
  
made her distrust him. She knew that 'goody-two-shoes' Lily always trusted people at their  
  
word, but she had always found suspicion and analysis of potential associates a most useful tool,  
  
even if it did make her seem less kind to people than her popular sister did.  
  
The phone rang, and she heard Lily crying at the other end.  
  
"What's wrong, Lily?" Petunia inquired fearfully.  
  
" It's so awful; it's mum and dad. They're dead!!!!!!!" she said crying uproariously.  
  
" Oh Lord!!!! I'm on my way!!!!" she shouted. Dudley was with his Grandma Dursley,  
  
and Vernon was away on a business trip.  
  
Petunia arrived at her parents' house and saw them both lying motionless on the floor  
  
wearing looks of terror on their faces like masks. She looked around the house to see what else  
  
had happened; she still couldn't believe it. Her parents were both dead. She felt her shoe almost  
  
crush something. She looked down and saw that it was a ring. She picked it up with a handker-  
  
chief that sat in her pocket, then she wandered over to the phone and attempted to call the police,  
  
but Lily stopped her and said, "the ministry is on its way. There's no need to involve the muggle  
  
authorities."  
  
"You mean to tell me that this had to do with that magic nonsense?!!!!" she asked enraged  
  
enough to slap Lily for being so reckless.  
  
" It's a part of your life too, despite the fact that you pretend to be normal for that  
  
husband of yours!!!"  
  
"Yes; because, it's very dangerous !!!! Just look at our parents, Lil, can you honestly sit here and tell me  
  
that living with magic isn't dangerous?!!!!!!"  
  
"Yes, but when James and I went into hiding, this wasn't supposed to happen to mum  
  
and dad," she said crying.  
  
" How did you find out that this happened ?" she asked.  
  
"I popped in to see mum and dad to get a break from the baby, and when I knocked nob-  
  
ody answered the door. I saw a green flash of light so I apparated inside and I found them like  
  
this,"Lily answered.  
  
"Does anyone know where I live?" Petunia asked.  
  
"Of course not; I know what Vernon thinks of our crowd," she said.  
  
" Listen, I want you to keep me abreast of the proceedings. I'm going home. I can't stand  
  
to be here right now. It's just too upsetting," she said.  
  
"Don't you think that I'm upset too?!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lily roared at Petunia's callousness.  
  
" Don't yell at me!!!!!!!!!! This is all your fault, Mrs. 'James Bond'!!!!!!!! You had to go  
  
looking for trouble with that husband of yours. I swear on their graves that I'll never forgive you  
  
for this for as long as I live!!!!!!!!!" Petunia said crying to the point that she trembled uncontrol-  
  
lably.  
  
" I- I'm so sorry, Pet!!!!!!!None of this would have happened if it weren't for me. All James and I wanted to...."  
  
" Oh.....yes.......James.......... I should have known it!!!! Lily never thinks of doing  
  
anything without 'James'. Let me ask you 'this', does 'Peter Gunn' know about what's  
  
happened here tonight?!" Petunia asked sharply. " Well, does he?!!!!!!" she pressed.  
  
" No," Lily answered quietly.  
  
"You know what makes me sicker about this than anything? It's the fact that all our lives  
  
I've had to pick up your slack. Everybody swore that you were some kind of angel. Remember  
  
when we were young and the Carroll brothers picked on you and your friends? I had to come and  
  
fight for you; because, they threatened to feed you to Mr. Halliday's pit bull 'Tatters' for  
  
cheeking the eldest, Andrew. Oh.... no-no, that's not a good enough example. I have a better one  
  
for you. It's the time that you decided to rescue Mrs. Ellis' cat 'Poppins' by sliding across the  
  
powerline using dad's good Sunday belt. You and Poppins would've been fried to a crisp if I  
  
hadn't pulled the trampoline beneath you. Those times frustrate me when I think on them, but  
  
this.......this is just too much,Lily," she said sounding fed up.  
  
" I know , Petunia. Please, listen to me. The man that we're fighting is very dangerous. He  
  
tortures people like your husband Vernon. If nobody tries to stop him, then we're all doomed,"  
  
Lily said.  
  
" I am not entering this fight if that's what you're asking me to do," Petunia told Lily.  
  
" Oh-no, not you, 'Miss perfectly sensible witch of the year', 'Miss straight- A-I-ride-  
  
my-broom-side-saddled-top-of-the-graduating-class bloody coward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lily screamed  
  
back at her. " I wonder what Miss Cackle would say right now if she saw her best little pupil  
  
shirking her civic duty," Lily said laughing viciously at the end of her sentence.  
  
Petunia lost control and slapped Lily hard across the face. Before either became aware of  
  
it, they were in a knock-down wrestling fight. It took eight of the apparating aurors to pry  
  
them both apart as each shouted at the other.  
  
" Let me go!!!I don't give the first damn in hell whether I see you ever again!!!!!!," Petu-  
  
nia said and then folded her arms disapparating more smoothly and less noisily than her fellow  
  
living room occupants.  
  
" 'Pet'....pleeeease.....don't go," Lily begged before breaking down into hysterics.  
  
Petunia realized that she broke her creed, her sacred vow that she would never use magic  
  
ever again. 'How could she have let Lily get her so angry that she broke her vow to herself ?'Oh,  
  
it didn't matter now. Vernon didn't see her do it. Her parents were dead, and that was most  
  
important. She shoved one of her plates onto her immaculate kitchen floor and screamed swear  
  
words as it broke. Lily and her selfish ideas broke her whole world to pieces. Why didn't people  
  
like her and that James ever consider anyone but themselves? Never did any of their actions have  
  
consequences, that is to say, consequences that affected them personally. As she cleaned the  
  
kitchen floor, the ring that she picked up as evidence slipped out of her pocket . She grabbed it  
  
and looked at it to try and remember where she'd seen it before, pondering the ring consumed her  
  
the next few hours of her lonely night. 'Why am I obsessing over this ring?,' she thought. She felt  
  
that she should backslide and use magic one more time to divine the origins of this ring.  
  
She drew a saucer full of water and got a few black, mother-of pearl pebbles from her garden and  
  
formed a Celtic Cross around the ring. She let the dish and the articles gather rays from the moon-  
  
light. She timed it and went to retrieve the saucer after five minutes. She pulled the ring from the  
  
saucer and felt her body stiffen suddenly. She saw a grotesque looking Peter Pettigrew talking to  
  
someone. It was someone who had a horrific face. She screamed and broke her charged link. She  
  
swore. She knew that she wasn't supposed to act out else risk breaking the psychic connection  
  
with the earth and the moon. 'Damn!' 'It was only a half-moon.' Were it full, she could have  
  
recharged the link. It weren't as if she couldn't recharge it at the present time. It's just that any  
  
moon less than full usually brought interference from other sources. She slipped the ring back  
  
into her pocket and went to bed . She felt her body stiffen violently as she dreamt. Her astral self  
  
got pulled into a dark room where she saw Peter and the monster talking again. She listened in as  
  
he promised to deliver James , Lily, and worse that poor little defenseless baby to him to be  
  
killed. ' What the devil did Lily get herself into dealing with this monster?' Petunia felt her  
  
corporeal body jump. She had to get that baby! It wasn't its poor little fault that it had foolish  
  
and imprudently foolhardy parents. She got the charmed portkey bracelet that Lily gave her and  
  
popped into the living room. She saw that shiftless James lounging on the sofa sleeeping as Lily  
  
leaned into him doing the same. She saw a cup on the floor that contained some sort of solution  
  
and Lily's household items looking helter-skelter.'How messy can you get?' she thought. Then  
  
she reminded herself that she was here to get the baby and to stay focused. She crept up the  
  
stairs and found herself debating whether or not she should use a cleaning spell on this pigsty or  
  
not. She bit her lip and saw Lily stir. 'Oh,no! I should get moving!' She went into the nursery and grabbed Harry. He started to squirm,  
  
and she waved her hand and said, ' Conscientus dormiatum.' He fell right back to sleep. She left them a note and  
  
disapparated with the baby.


	2. Face to Face

Petunia settled down over in Canada. She and her two tag-alongs, Harry and Dudley caught a cab to a nearby inn. She knew that it was time to visit Vavassieur's Bank to see how much royalty money she had left.

Before she and Vernon decided to marry, she was quite the 'Potions' prodigy. She wowed a company called 'Gleason and Price' with her special formula that repelled dirt, stains, and scuffmarks from surfaces for three months (unbeknownst to Vernon, she used it around Number Four to keep their house looking the best in the area). She signed a contract with the company that paid her twenty percent of the monthly profit earnings.

She struggled with the boys, but she managed to get through the doors of the bank okay. She went in through the left side; because, it was where the magical people performed their transactions. The bank recently took to doing business with muggle or common folks, and their area was to the right of the bank. A sealed wall shielded the magical side from the common side. To commoners, the sealed wall merely looked like a well-polished mirror in a very refined building.

She said a special password that allowed her to ascend to thebank's atrium. It was still as white as ever. She thought that it might begin to fade or yellow after a few years. Viewing the atrium made her recall having lunch with her deceased parents in a revolving dining room after she won the 'Potions' competition. Perhaps she could someday take the boys to such a place, when they were both of age to appreciate it. She started to smile when someone broke her thoughts.

"Good afternoon, Miss Evans. It's been quite some time since we've seen you," a diminutive man who wore spectacles said.

"Hello, Wiggins. It's quite nice to see you as well," she said smiling.

"How can I help you today?" he asked clasping both his hands together eagerly.

"Well, I came to inquire about the balance in my bank account. Would it be too much trouble to get an accurate tally of funds?" she asked grinning widely like a child who tries to wheedle something from his or her parent.

"My dear, you of all people know that Vavassieur's Bank has never misdealt its clients or made calculative errors on bank statements in all its years of public service," he said.

"Oh I know. It's just that I haven't been here in almost five years, you know? I never kept track of my affairs over that time," she said apologetically.

"Oh.... I get you. You want to see if the market crash of '73 affected your lovely earnings. Well I must say, no. Your account has been one of our strongest and continues to grow, not at the rate that it did back then, but still at a very lucrative rate. Well I guess that that's enough out of me. Let's get on with it then," he said ushering them to another mirror like the one in the entrance only this one housed special guardians, night hobs to be exact. Their memories and senses could be compared to those of elephants, but they

liked shadows and didn't enjoy talk very much. It was better to write to them when you wanted to communicate with them.

Petunia wrote her request on a small piece of paper with a pencil that she got from her purse and stuck her hands through the mirror. After about ten seconds, the note slipped back through the glass giving her a more than substantial balance. She almost jumped for joy when she saw the numbers, but she remembered the boys and how difficult it was for her to get them to sleep during their journey from England.

As she exited the bank, she saw a couple hold hands affectionately, and she guiltily thought back to Vernon. All she did was leave him a note explaining what she was and why she did what she did and a week's supply of food to keep him. 'Dear Lord! She deserved to be shot for what she did. What kind of decent woman did such things?'

She stifled her tears and made a plan to care for herself and her boys. There was money, so she didn't need any, and she could easily buy a roof to go over their heads, and... Of course! How could she be so stupid? She needed to change their identities.

She decided to use 'Gunter' as a last name.

She rented places for a while until she found a lovely beach house. It was highly elevated and it had three stories. It used to be an eightenth-century muggle school. She used a few spells to renovate it. After making what seemed like thirty incantations, the place looked like a beautiful mountain lodge. She hated the tropical look. In her opinion, it was far too shabby; it made her think back to her childhood comic books that featured sea monsters like the creature from the black lagoon. She shook wildly just thinking about it.

She watched the children play on the beach. They seemed to be so carefree, no secrets, no doubts, and definitely no indecision. She'd have given anything to feel so innocently again, but it was far too late to turn back now. She chose to be an abductor, and now she would just have to learn to live with the knowledge that she was a common criminal.

Petunia, Harry, and Dudley resided there for three years. Their life was simple but happy. They loved and annoyed each other just the same, but that was what made family, family. Today, she decided to pack a sumptuous picnic for herself and for the boys. She made her special sandwiches, packed their favorite homemade snacks and toys. She checked everything three times to make sure that she hadn't forgotten any essentials like sun tan lotion. Petunia's boys were certainly not going to blister under the glare of the vicious sun.

They settled down, and she let them explore the area like they usually did. She layed down on her blanket and let herself tan. She could've used a few spells, but some things were better left to Mother Nature.

"Excuse me, Miss. But could you tell us where we can find route 341?" a woman asked. She lifted her back partially and waited for the woman to approach her more closely. Had she bothered to look more closely instead of waiting, she would have been prepared for what happened next.

"YOU!!!!!!!!!!!" the woman screamed. It was Lily, and James followed her holding a red-haired baby.

"Please, let me explain," Petunia said as Lily lunged for her.

"Explain 'what'? What do I let you explain?" she asked dangerously.

" Why I had to do it," Petunia said. She knew that when Lily's eyes narrowed that she was ready to go for the throat.

" You never had to do anything!!!!!!!! You always believed that you knew better!!!!!!! He was 'our'child, not yours!" Lily screamed while slapping her in the face.

Lily pinned Petunia down for a beating, but she was no match for Harry and Dudley who both rushed to Petunia's aid and pulled her off and started battering her with their plastic shovels.

"Get off, lady. Don't you hurt my 'Pet'," Harry said now pointing his shovel at her nose as if he had her at gunpoint.

"Yeah, lady. You say 'sorry'," Dudley demanded placing both hands on his hips.

"No, 'Diddy'. She didn't mean it," Petunia said trying to calm the boys down.

"Mean lady hit my 'Pet' and made her cry," Harry said and then hit Lily with his shovel again, this time over the head before she grabbed it from him.

"You listen to 'me', Harry. 'I' am your mother, not Petunia, and I won't let you treat me like this," Lily said firmly meeting her estranged son's equally fearsome gaze.

Harry waited until Lily moved to approach him to swing his bucket at her head and then run to Petunia's side to pick her up and help her get away. He almost succeeded until James put the baby down on Petunia's blanket and ran to seize Harry. He had Harry in a grip until Dudley bit him hard in the right calf.

Lily pulled her wand out and sent a blast into the air. Everbody looked up, and thebaby followed the din with a cry.

"It's okay, Madison. Mummy's here," she said picking her little girl up.

"Okay, Petunia, we're taking this matter to the proper authorities. You had no right to do this to us. You could just as easily have informed us about Peter. You didn't have to cause us such worry. Can you imagine the stress that we've been under?" James asked her looking quite enraged.

"Let you know" she said sarcatically" Let you 'know' so that you could make another bad plan and get him killed along with your irresponsible selves?" Petunia said defensively gathering the boys to her before Lily grabbed them away. Lily held them both tightly by the hands, and glared at them both daring either of them to make any more trouble.

"When we get back to England, and everybody hears that you were the one who took our boy, you'll rot in jail for the rest of your miserable life if Lily and I have anything to say about it," James said bitterly.

"No...don't take my 'Pet' to jail, lady. I'm sorry. Me and Dudley real sorry that we hit you. Don't hurt 'Pet' no more. We be good," Harry begged crying and pulling at her clothes.

"I have to, Harry. 'Pet' stole you away from daddy and me. We have to take you back. You belong with us and with your baby sister Madison," she explained.

"I want to stay with Dudley," Harry said looking at his playmate with sad resignation.

"We have to ask Dudley's daddy first," Lily said. She really did feel his pain, but Petunia brought this on herself.

"She's right, Harry and 'Diddy', I have to go away for what I did, but promise me that you two will always remember that I love you and to be good. Do everything that Lily tells you to. Okay?"

"Yes, boys, it's going to be all right," James said reassuringly. He wasn't sure if he were telling them or telling himself. It didn't matter either way. Their (his and Lily's) backs were against the wall. He pointed his wand at Petunia and made her pack her stuff off the beach and escorted her away.

The rest of them followed like mourners at a funeral. Lily and her baby, followed by Harry and Dudley, who were both unsure of what action to take next to remedy this sad and threatening situation. It was clear that the red headed monster and the big-bad man with the glasses were the winners and that they were going to do some pretty bad things to them in the near future.

"Don't worry,'Pet'. I won't let them get you. I promise." Harry said to himself crying through his little glasses. He clung desperately to Dudley who immediately returned the favor.

When they got back to their hotel, James and Lily watched their boy sleep by his cousin. They hoped that despite all this, their son would come to know and love them as much as they loved him. If only Petunia hadn't been so spiteful. All this wouldn't be necessary.

James and Lily entered the adjoining bedroom that housed a prone and leg-locked Petunia and Lily asked," what were you really thinking when you decided to do it, that you'd avenge mum and dad? Were you trying to give me some kind of message? I'd really like to know. You could've at least written us! Despite what you think of us, we loveour son dearly."

"Yes, Petunia. Our methods for dealing with our son were none of your business," James said placing a supportive arm around Lily.

"Did I really mean so little to you that you'd do this to me, your own sister?"

Petunia merely rolled her eyes at the question. Lily could be so melodramatic. It was too bad that she didn't have the same passion about being clearly minded and responsible.

"Don't give us that look of yours, Petunia. You wanted to prove another of your spiteful little points. Let's see if I understand the gyst of this one. Ah, I know... since we made one tiny mistake, we don't deserve to be parents. He should be with somebody more perfect like you. Was that it? No...wait, I think I've got it. You didn't care whether or not the your little sister and her husband died, we made our own beds, and it was time for us to lie in them, but the baby didn't have it coming like we did," James said circling the bed upon which Petunia lay.

"No! I warned you two, didn't I? I thought that taking Harry away would cause enough alarm in the community to make Lord whatever leave the two of you alone since he'd think that the threat to his empire was gone. It would also mean that Harry would be safe like he is now. I've done nothing to hurt him or my boy. As far as either of them knows, their lives are normal."

"There you go again with that word!!!!!" Lily shrieked. "All my life nothing I did was as good or as perfect as what you did. I never ever measured up to standard!!!"

"What on earth..." Petunia asked looking wide eyed with disbelief at Lily.

"Do you know what mum and dad said when they last visited our house before they died? Do you!!!!"

"No!!!! I don't!!!!"

"Lily, you should take a page from Petunia's book on housekeeping. She's tireless about her affairs, so conscientious. I know that her child will want for nothing. Did you ever consider not working? James certainly has enough money to support the both of you!!! Then, as if I didn't feel stupidly inferior enough, you had to make me feel as if I were responsible for their deaths."

"In a manner of speaking you 'were, so don't pin your little guilt trip on me.'"

" It's true. I have a few spots on my apron, but this time I wasn't the one who dealt in dirt. You were, and you'd better prepare to pay; because, I'll march to hell and back before I let you see the outside of Azkaban prison anytime soon, you sadity cow!!!!!"

" Do as you wish, but I'll always know and have the utmost satisfaction that I acted in his best interest every second he was in my care, unlike you and 'Sir Gallahad' over there."

" Best interest? You call Harry's not knowing his own parents his best interest?" Lily asked.

" He's alive isn't he? That's a hell of a far cry from what he would've been if he'd stayed in you negligent care, you self-centered dullard. It's no wonder nobody reported 'you' to the authorities. I mean the state of your house was deplorable drink and garbage lying about like you lived in some wreckage site. You expected the boy to fare well with a slatternly boar for a mother?"

" Don't you dare cheek me, you damned snit!!!!!!!"

" Oh, dear, what is Lily going to do now, hit me again? No, perhaps, you're going to have another tantrum? Just a little sisterly advice, all this drama is unhealthy for children. It makes them insecure and hostile."

" Oh, shut up!!!!!!!!! I've had more than enough of you telling us how to raise our son!!!!!!!!!" Lily yelled.

" Why should I? Are sense and reason threatening to invade that peon-sized brain you use to think? Are my words forcing you to wake up and see that you fall quite short of what it takes to be a decent mother"?

" Shut up, Petunia, or I'll smack you myself!!!!!!!!!" James yelled.

" Come and do it. I dare you. With you making threats like that it makes me wonder how violent you get with poor lovesick Lily when you come home from a long hard day at the bar," she said narrowing her eyes defiantly as she looked straight at James.

" That's it!!!!!! I've had enough of you!!!!!!!" Lily screamed and punched Petunia so hard that she made her hit her head on the headboard of the bed. Lily watched in fear and shock as Petunia's nose bled profusely from her attack. She really grew scared when Petunia fainted, and she couldn't hear her breathe.


End file.
